I didn’t think an article on Modern would really appeal to most Magic players who are not attending GP Columbus, so instead I’ve decided to push strategy aside for the moment in order to discuss an issue that has recently been making some waves in the community.
Something needs to be done to fix PTQs.
Until recently, Pro Tour Qualifiers were the exclusive domain of regional tournament organizers. Depending on where you lived, these might have been but were not necessarily, owners of local gaming establishments. Although I was not really an advocate, this system definitely had some good points.
After years of running events, most TOs eventually got the hang of it. Of the 62 qualifiers that my Planeswalker Points transcript says I’ve attended, the vast majority were run at a very high level of professionalism and efficiency. While some organizers were stingier than others, the consistency at least gave players a good idea of what to expect. PTQs have never been a great deal in terms of expected value, but most competitive players are willing to bite the bullet every two months for a chance to live the dream and qualify for the Pro Tour.
Roughly six months ago, however, Wizards decided to shake things up. Like they did with Prereleases a few years ago, they did away with regional monopolies in favor of supporting local brick and mortars. Pro Tour Qualifiers are now awarded to high-ranking stores according to criteria established by the Wizards Play Network.
Great news, right? While regional Prereleases were a cool experience, the change has been a major boon to local stores who are now able to use the excitement of a new set to get customers in the store and to help build a community around their weekly and monthly events.
And, at least in my area, it’s been good for players as well. Competition with other stores, the desire to give back to the community, and the ability to host events without renting a tournament hall has seen entry fees fall from $40 all the way down to $18. While $18 may be the exception rather than the norm, I rarely pay more than $20 for a Sealed Deck event at a Prerelease. And no matter how much we pay, we are guaranteed at least the minimum of two packs per player in prize.
After attending five store-sponsored Pro Tour Qualifiers, I’m afraid that this transition has not been as smooth. I’m not saying we should go back to regional TOs, but Wizards of the Coast should really take a look at how these events are being run. The Pro Tour is a driving force for the success of the game, and the qualifying circuit might be the single most important part of that.
I wouldn’t say we’re at a crisis point, but some of the solutions are so simple that allowing the situation to continue can only be seen as negligent.
Some examples:
Actually…
Before I talk about specific events, let me just say two things. First, I am not going to specifically identify any stores or organizers. They provide a valuable service to the community and I’m not interested in participating in a witch hunt or an attempt to harm someone’s business. Second, I am only going to provide examples from the five PTQs I attended, four of which I played in. There have been a number of forum posts and anecdotes about horrible conditions at certain PTQs, and some of the complaints have turned out to be exaggerated. That serves no purpose other than to discredit the argument. I will only talk about specific things that I’ve experienced or seen. Fortunately, I live close to the border and have been able to attend store-sponsored PTQs in two different provinces and two different states. While it’s still a relatively small sample size, I feel like I’ve been exposed to a reasonable cross-section of events, and have seen firsthand the stark contrast in how they are being run.
The most glaring issue, by far, has been the wide discrepancies in prize support. Here’s the breakdown for two of the events I attended in 2012:
Event # 1:
Format: Modern
Entry Fee: $25
Number of Players: 102
Total Number of Packs Given Out: 216
Prize Packs per Player: 2.11
Event # 2:
Format: Standard
Entry Fee: $25
Number of Players: 123
Total Number of Packs Given Out: 756
Prize Packs per Player: 6.15
Both of these events were Constructed events where no product was supplied. They were both run in rented hotel conference rooms and featured a dealer table to generate extra business. A friend of mine who cracked the Top 16 in the second event earned the exact same prize another friend of mine who lost in the finals of the first: half a box.
Now, I’m not the kind of person who thinks stores should bend over backwards to hold events at a loss in order to give back to the community or to foster good will and customer loyalty. While these things are important, so is the ability to make a profit. Running an event is providing a service, and the organizers need to be compensated for their time and effort. Otherwise, we will quickly run out of willing hosts. With that said, there’s no reason for this massive discrepancy. With similar costs and similar attendance, players should be able to expect similar value.
Low prize support can really leave a sour taste in your mouth. While I’m personally not playing in PTQs for the chance to win a bunch of packs, you never want to feel like you’re being taken advantage of. Instead of being excited for the next chance to qualify, you might start to wonder whether it’s even worth playing. I’ve seen it happen and it’s really a shame because there’s no need for it.
My other major concern is the lack of attention being given to providing comfortable and adequate playing conditions. These are not the seasoned organizers who can predict how many people will attend their events and understand how important it is to have sufficient space and air flow.
At three of the five events, the venues were severely overcrowded. I don’t mean just playmat to playmat either. I’m talking about how it was physically difficult to navigate from one end of the room to the other and certainly impossible without disturbing several matches along the way. In all three cases, there was literally no place in the playing area where you could stand or sit without being in the way. You either had to stay seated at your table or fight your way outside.
Two of the events were air conditioned, at least to an extent. The third was during a heat wave at a store with no AC (as far as I could tell) that I would guess could comfortably fit 70 or 80 players. From what I understand, they decided that they could uncomfortably fit 128, and announced that attendance would be limited to 129, with one person being awarded a bye. As people kept walking in, enrollment was stretched to 138 players. I guess it’s hard to turn people away when they’re offering cash and the only sacrifice is the well-being of the players in the tournament. People travel to PTQs and you don’t want to turn them away, but shouldn’t there be some basic requirements to ensure safety and minimal standards of comfort?
Although it was not really an issue in any of the PTQs I attended, there has been some talk about events starting late and being run inefficiently. I suppose there are going to be some growing pains as new organizers are put in charge of events for the first time. The only thing that came up at an event I was at was a decision by the judging staff to refrain from posting tiebreak percentages in an effort to coerce more players to play rather than take an intentional draw in the last round of the Swiss. I can only guess that this was due to the head judge’s inexperience at running these types of events and deciding to take matters into his own hands. It was an unfortunate decision, and one that was quickly condemned by Organized Play.
As some of the minor kinks get worked out, however, the issues of prize support discrepancies and substandard conditions remain. In my opinion, the root of the problem is in the way PTQs are awarded. Stores work really hard to achieve and maintain their WPN levels. Generally speaking, it’s a good system. They put resources into attracting players and building a community, and they are rewarded with the ability and support to host more events. Being awarded a PTQ is the icing on the cake. The payoff.
Unlike Prereleases where they need to compete with other local stores to attract players, hosting a PTQ is a sure thing. They are the only game in town, and players will line up to hand over entry fees regardless of how well the event is being run. Some organizers use this as an opportunity to showcase their store to a large group of potential customers, but others view it as winning a lottery of sorts. This is their reward after all. Why should they share it with a bunch of players who will probably never spend money in their store or show up to weekly events?
“Vote with your wallet,” some say. If you aren’t happy with the service you’re being provided with, take your business elsewhere. But there is nowhere else. There are a limited number of PTQs every season, and things like prize support and conditions are rarely made known to the public ahead of time.
Even if they were, this is not a good solution. Sure, people take long breaks from the game only to return years later with newfound fervor. I know I did. But competitive Magic is not the kind of thing that you can really do half-heartedly. You don’t see serious players showing up for one PTQ because they like the TO, then skipping the next two because the prize support is lousy or the venue is too small.
Instead, you get a group of disgruntled, frustrated players who attend all three. It starts off with people complaining on forums, and potentially ends with players giving up on the dream of qualifying for the Pro Tour or quitting the game altogether. Once a player decides that PTQs are a bad deal and that Wizards of the Coast is not willing to protect their interests, that player is lost, probably forever.
Store owners can’t be expected to police themselves. Some have very different ideas of what it takes to run a successful business, and not all of them care about the welfare of the game and of a group of competitive players who they only interact with once a year. If PTQs are going to be awarded based on WPN levels then Wizards needs to make sure that certain basic requirements are being met.
Although I’m not aware of one, there must be a document that circulates to store owners about how to run a PTQ. At issue are the contents. I can’t pretend to have all the answers, but there’s no use in complaining if you aren’t willing to at least offer a possible solution. So here are a few simple things I would do to fix the PTQ system.
1. Entry Fee and Prize Support
This is the easiest thing to fix. I don’t know what the exact levels should be, but they should be consistent. Players shouldn’t feel screwed when they attend one event and receive a third of the prize support of another. Even removing the line that encourages stores to offer additional prizes would be an improvement over the current situation.
Personally, I feel that offering one pack in prize for every $5 in entry fee would represent reasonable support for a Constructed tournament. Limited events where product is supplied would have to offer a little less. Maybe the first $15 should be used to cover the cost of product, and one pack for every $5 after that should be awarded as prize.
Furthermore, the prize breakdown for should be standardized. For example, seven round tournaments could offer prize to the Top 16, and eight round tournaments to the Top 32. Something like that. If you give out door prizes or packs for participation, they should come out of a different pool. These are competitive tournaments, and prizes should go to those who earn them.
2. Playing Conditions
At a bare minimum, the venue needs to have sufficient seating and table space for all of the participants. That should be obvious, but apparently it is not. Wizards of the Coast has a lot of data on tournament attendance. A condition on accepting an awarded PTQ should be an absolute requirement that the host secure a venue that can handle the expected crowd without violating fire safety standards.
In addition, a standard needs to be set for the amount of playing space a match requires. When more people show up than expected, the solution should not be to force eight people to play on a table that has barely enough room for six. You should have enough space for your playmat, dice, and deckbox, and should not have your thoughts constantly interrupted as you fight for elbow space with your neighbor. This is just a basic requirement that is so frequently ignored.
How much space is enough? Let me grab a ruler. A standard sized playmat is two feet wide. 24 inches exactly. I’d like to say that 30 inches would be appropriate, but I think 27 inches would be an acceptable minimum standard considering your deckbox and sideboard are supposed to remain on the table throughout the match. Anything less than 24 inches is, in my opinion, completely unacceptable.
But what do you do when 180 people show up for an event where you expected no more than 150? Can you just turn people away? YES! Absolutely. If you are awarded a PTQ that WotC tells you has to handle 128 players, and you secure a venue that seats exactly that many, then it is completely reasonable to cut attendance off at that point.
This shouldn’t be a regular occurrence. Attendance requirements should be overestimated to ensure that everyone who shows up at the event gets to play. Also, knowing that players are going to travel to these events, all PTQs should accept non-refundable preregistration. You don’t even have to offer a discount. Once players understand that attendance is capped, they’ll make sure to sign up ahead of time.
3. Transparency
Players should have access to the same document provided to tournament organizers stating the basic requirements of Pro Tour Qualifiers. They shouldn’t feel like they’re at the complete mercy of unscrupulous hosts. They should know what the entry fee, prize support and breakdown is supposed to be, the minimum attendance the PTQ has to accommodate, the time limit before you reach extra turns, whether decklists will be exchanged in the Top 8, etc.
Players invest a lot of time and effort into preparing for these tournaments. They should know what to expect.
4. Feedback Channel
Unless you happen to have a personal relationship with a Wizards of the Coast employee, you have no reasonable way of giving voice to your complaints. You can send an e-mail to customer service, but you are almost certain to receive only a form letter as a reply, with no follow-up.
I’m not saying the head of Organized Play needs to personally respond to every e-mail. It would help a lot if players felt they had some way to reach the people who make decisions and set the standards.
I’d suggest something like the following. Allow players to complete a short survey and leave a small comment as a link from the entry on their Planeswalker Points page for a Competitive REL event. They would log in with their DCI number and password, as usual, and click on a small “Feedback” button next to the event in question.
A small page would open with a short survey:
Please describe your level of satisfaction with the following aspects of the event on a scale of 1 to 5
1 = very disappointed
5 = very satisfied
A. Professionalism and Efficiency of the Tournament Organizer
B. Entry Fee and Prize Support
C. Venue and Playing Conditions
D. Judging Staff
E. Overall Experience
Please leave a short comment if you would like to elaborate on any of the issues above, or draw attention to a particularly good or bad aspect of the event (100 words max).
Are you willing to be contacted by a WotC representative if we need to get more information about your experience? Yes/No
Really, that’s all it would take for players to feel like their voice was being heard and their concerns addressed. A short reply saying that the matter is being looked into probably wouldn’t hurt either.
Short of a reply, even displaying the results once the survey has been completed would be of some benefit. Were you the only one to have a problem with the judging staff, or was it a widespread concern?
In addition to giving voice to the players, survey results could be used as an additional metric for evaluating stores and awarding future PTQs. Tournament organizers with consistently negative feedback should be instructed to shape up or risk having their hosting privileges suspended or revoked.
Pro Tour Qualifiers are the foundation on which competitive play has been built. The idea that you could one day win a tournament and get to play on the Pro Tour is a big part of why people tune in to coverage and strive to build the best decks and improve their game.
I would like to see the tradition continue in a manner that encourages rather than dissuades participation, and hope that this article is seen as constructive criticism. Even if they are not the solutions I propose, it would be really nice to see some steps taken to improve the situation.
Jon Stern is a grinder who has won over a dozen PTQs in his career. In 2010, he returned to the game after a 4-year hiatus, leading him to win another PTQ in 2012 for Pro Tour Seattle.